Category Archives: Italy

Coronavirus live updates: WHO declares pandemic as Italy extends lockdown measures

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World Health Organization chief says number of cases reported and number of countries affected ‘doesn’t tell the full story’

In addition to the unnamed cabinet minister, the junior health minister Ed Argar is also self-isolating after having dinner with Nadine Dorries on Thursday night, the Guardian understands.

A cabinet minister is self-isolating while they await test results, a government source has confirmed, thought they would not confirm the identity of the minister.

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St Peter’s Square before and after Italy’s coronavirus lockdown – video

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St Peter's Square and St Peter's Basilica in Vatican City have been closed to tourists after Italy's prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, placed a lockdown across the entire country because of coronavirus. More than 60 million people have been affected by the lockdown since the government extended restrictions on movement from the hard-hit north to the rest of Italy.

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From confidence to quarantine: how coronavirus swept Italy

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Undetected transmissions in early stage of outbreak at heart of current difficulties

Italy appeared well ahead of the curve when the coronavirus outbreak began to spread outside China.

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Coronavirus live updates: Italy-wide lockdown comes into force

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UK and US had worst days trading since 2008 GFC; Global cases near 110,000; Grand Princess passengers disembark. Follow the latest news.

As the whole of Italy goes into lockdown, there are some reassuring signs that measures are starting to work. Across the 11 towns that went into quarantine over two weeks ago, the number of cases is beginning to fall.

Virgin Atlantic has called on the European Commission and UK flight slots co-ordinator to relax rules amid the coronavirus outbreak, PA reports.

Chief executive Shai Weiss said: “Last month Virgin Atlantic and industry partners committed to achieving net zero carbon by 2050.

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Italy PM: ‘ We cannot let meetings become occasions of contagion’ – coronavirus video report

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Italy has extended its emergency coronavirus measures to the entire country. All movement across the country will be restricted to ‘reasons of work, reasons of necessity or health reasons’, says Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte. Italy is the worst-hit country after China with more than 460 deaths. Additionally, six people died during riots across Italy’s prison system which were sparked as probation and visitation rights were restricted. 

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The day we stopped shaking hands – and what that means for Europe | Natalie Nougayrède

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The disappearance of this friendly gesture reflects the fragmented European response to the coronavirus

Europeans have stopped shaking hands. That is, I and almost everyone I have come across has stopped.

At an event last week hosted by the German foreign ministry in Berlin, we shunned the handshake. We huddled awkwardly, nodding heads, or half-jokingly stretched out a leg to touch an interlocutor’s foot as a new form of greeting. In Paris, a fashion and perfume store manager told me sales were badly down because “the usual 30 bus loads of Chinese tourists a day” had completely stopped. A taxi driver said he was keeping his car windows open, despite the cold, to avoid contamination from passengers. As of Monday, French authorities have announced that any event with more than 1,000 people has to be cancelled: book fairs and music festivals are over. Of course the situation in Italy is more alarming, with more than 16 million people in quasi-lockdown, and numbers of infections and deaths still rising quickly. That the Pope decided to speak by video on Sunday for the Angelus ceremony, to protect himself and the congregation in St Peter’s Square from infection, seemed a fitting symbol of what is under way.

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Coronavirus live updates: fifth death confirmed in UK, as head of New York’s airports tests positive

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With cases spiking sharply across Europe and emergency measures in place from California to Saudi Arabia, investors have sent shares tumbling

US authorities are planning a flight tomorrow to repatriate Britons on the coronavirus-hit Grand Princess cruise ship.

The UK Foreign Office issued the following statement:

We continue to work closely with the US authorities to repatriate British nationals on board the Grand Princess. The US are currently planning for a flight to leave tomorrow evening, returning to the UK on Wednesday afternoon. We remain in contact with all British nationals on board and will continue to offer support.

Chinese authorities reportedly scrambled to move people out of quarantine hotels which need full safety inspections after the deaths of at least 10 people in a collapsed hotel.

Joanna Davison, an English teacher, and her partner were suddenly placed in enforced isolation in Shenzhen after a ferry trip about 10 days ago. On Thursday, she told the Guardian she endured a “terrifying” experience as five people in hazmat suits came to test them at her home before they were whisked to quarantine.

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Health authorities check all passengers travelling from northern Italy – video

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Italian health authorities were checking passengers getting off buses and trains from northern Italy and arriving in Salerno and Naples on Saturday. Other countries could soon follow Italy’s drastic containment measures as coronavirus threatens to continue its spread across Europe. Italy remains the epicentre of the viral outbreak in Europe, as more than a quarter of the country’s population is under quarantine

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Italy lockdown: PM outlines new measures to prevent spread of coronavirus – video

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Giuseppe Conte announced a range of tough new measures in the early hours of Sunday to try to contain Italy's coronavirus outbreak, including the virtual lockdown of the country's wealthiest and most populous region. The new rules include telling people not to enter or leave Lombardy, which is home to about 10 million people, and dozen provinces in four of Italy's 19 other regions. The draconian steps come after the number of coronavirus cases in Europe's worst-hit country reached 5,883 on Saturday.

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Italy set to quarantine whole of Lombardy due to coronavirus

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Government’s draft decree would impose fines on anyone caught entering or leaving northern region

The Italian government is to lockdown the northern region of Lombardy, as it battles to contain the spread of the coronavirus. A draft decree would extend the quarantined areas, so-called “red-zones”, ordering people not to enter or leave the region.

The country is grappling to contain Europe’s worst outbreak of Covid-19, which has claimed 233 lives and infected a total of 5,883 people.

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‘It has arrived’: Italian Democratic party leader announces he has coronavirus – video

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The governor of Italy's Lazio region is the latest official to test positive for coronavirus in the country. Nicola Zingaretti, who is also head of the Democratic party, one of the national ruling parties, announced his diagnosis on Facebook on Saturday. At least three government prefects – in Bergamo, Brescia and Matera – have tested positive for the virus, along with three Milan prosecutors, according to reports

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Coronavirus: Iran to limit travel between major cities amid more than 3,500 cases – latest updates

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California declares state of emergency; Italian doctors say German man may have been first European with virus and Scotland registers three more cases

The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) issued a statement warning businesses to not exploit the coronavirus outbreak and take advantage of people. The CMA said it will take enforcement action against companies that are charging excessive prices or making misleading claims about the efficacy of protective equipment.

CMA chairman Lord Tyrie said: “We will do whatever we can to act against rip-offs and misleading claims, using any or all of our tools; and where we can’t act, we’ll advise government on further steps they could take, if necessary.”

Here’s the latest summary of today’s events.

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Italy’s ex-PM Silvio Berlusconi splits from partner of 12 years

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Twice divorced media magnate reportedly now dating Marta Fascina, an MP from his party

Italy’s former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi has split from his partner after a 12-year relationship, his Forza Italia party said.

The 83-year-old billionaire and 34-year-old Francesca Pascale will “remain friends”, Forza Italia said in a statement.

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Iran to mobilise 300,000 soldiers and volunteers as 23 MPs infected – as it happened

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Germany reports increase in infections and more events cancelled across Europe. This blog is closed.

Thanks for following the blog, which we’re closing now. Don’t worry though, we’ve started a new one helmed by my colleague Helen Sullivan so you can keep up with all the developments.

You can find it here:

Related: Coronavirus live updates: WHO warns protective gear 'rapidly depleting' amid recession fears

The drop in the Australian share market despite the US Fed rate cut raises questions over the ability of central banks to halt the fall in share prices, according to Michael McCarthy of CMC Markets in Sydney. The moves in Australia follow late falls on Wall Street as the main indices failed to rally on the emergency Fed stimulus.

The market reaction to the Fed’s decisive action is worrying for investors. Major US indices dropped 2.5% to 3%. There is now a question over the ability of monetary policy to halt plummeting asset prices. The dangers of negative wealth effects from stock market falls adds to concern about the global outlook. The seeming ineffectiveness of further monetary easing will almost certainly lead to further calls on governments to push the fiscal stimulus button.

Bonds rallied again, pushing yields to fresh all-time lows. Gold found a firmer footing to rally by 3% as the US dollar slipped. In an illustration of the unusual conditions cryptocurrencies were among the least volatile markets.

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Coronavirus: two patients die in France as four new cases detected in England – live updates

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South Korea reports almost 500 new cases and a second person dies in the US as UK ministers hold emergency meeting

Big businesses and wealthy people are chartering private jets for “evacuation flights” out of countries hit by the coronavirus outbreak, reports the Guardian’s wealth correspondent Rupert Neate.

Adam Twidell, the chief executive of the private jet booking service PrivateFly, said the company had been inundated with requests from multinational firms arranging the mass evacuation of staff from China and south-east Asia.

Related: Wealthy turning to private jets to escape coronavirus outbreak

British Labour MP Tulip Siddiq has had confirmation from the family of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a British-Iranian woman detained in Iran, that she has not been tested for coronavirus. Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s husband told broadcasters this morning that his wife suspected she might have the virus and was displaying all the symptoms.

Just spoken to Nazanin’s family about what was said in the chamber in my Urgent Question - she told them this morning categorically that she has NOT been tested for coronavirus and remains petrified about her health #FreeNazanin

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Unsealing of Vatican archives will finally reveal truth about ‘Hitler’s pope’

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Historians can now pore over secret files from the papacy of Pius XII, who has long faced accusations of being a Nazi sympathiser

New light will be shed on one of the most controversial periods of Vatican history on Monday when the archives on Pope Pius XII – accused by critics of being a Nazi sympathiser – are unsealed.

A year after Pope Francis announced the move, saying “the church isn’t afraid of history”, the documents from Pius XII’s papacy, which began in 1939 on the brink of the second world war and ended in 1958, will be opened, initially to a small number of scholars.

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Prosecutors seize Italian Scala dei Turchi over conservation concerns

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Coastline that has been up for Unesco listing has been in poor condition for years

Italian prosecutors have seized control of the famous Scala dei Turchi limestone coastline, one of the Mediterranean’s main tourist attractions, citing poor handling of the cliff’s preservation.

For years, the site of the Scala dei Turchi – meaning Turkish steps or stairs of the Turks – a candidate for Unesco heritage, has been in a state of degradation. It is subject to constant erosion and theft by visitors who detach pieces of marl, the white sedimentary rock that gives the steps their distinctive appearance.

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